take a seat and watch yourself for a while

In the 5 months I’ve been mostly absent from here since our Play It Forward event in Vermont on 8/18/12, I’ve sort of been in an unplanned hiding phase, that I had no idea I needed. I’ve been catching up on sleep, work and bills. Everything the unexpected (to me anyway) exhaustion that 18 years of travel and go, go, go creates. Fall 2012 turned out to be a time to reflect, rest and let go…a lot. If you had told me back on August 18th as I was standing in that single Play It Forward Event day, which filled me with an energy, pride, and momentum for the future- that I was about to spend the following months feeling like my feet were stuck in cement buckets (not the bad kind) coming straight from a Chicago high-rise bustling social, sport, and work life, to living on a farm in Virginia down a dirt road of solitude- I would have told you that you had lost your mind.

And here I sit in complete silence down that dirt road those near 5 month later thankful those cement buckets found me.

I’ve thought about BLR Play It Forward no less than 50 times a day since our August event as I’ve been in “hiding”. I’ve had the families of my lost friends, all the guests of our incredibly powerful event, the places like Taltree Arboretum and Gardens, restaurant @1800 who graciously invited me to spend time with them in 2012, other “road people” I’ve had intentions to write about, new places I’ve visited that I’ve made big promises to share about- and more on my mind. Obviously I have just not written about them all here as I had planned to. BLR my travels, the people, Play It Forward event, the food, my everyday experiences (even the mundane) are so deeply engrained in my soul, none of it could ever leave no matter how much break time there has been on daily writing here, or even if I never wrote again (which clearly is not going to happen:) I live BLR just as much now, if not more than ever before.

So what happened? Nothing really besides allowing myself to fully rest, step back, and let go to watch as a passenger in my life for once. My body is rested, and my mind is clearer than ever. I have had the ultimate and much needed retreat. Now I am ready to get back in the saddle again.

I’m excited to share that Ive been working on an updated site to launch here this spring. That’s right- ALL my posts (Near 1,400) and the thousands of my travel photos will be in one place, on 1 single website! Also I am writing a book! A lifelong goal of mine. It is a lot of work, but I can’t wait for the day I will hold in my hands a book with my name stamped on it.

Now for some Sunday morning coffee and catching up on all this homework I owe myself and you all…